迷彩
by LePetitPappillon
Summary: (Meisai: Camouflage) It was her. The milk white woman with the scar etched onto her face. The way lightning strikes down from the sky. Her green eyes took him, while the expensive silken kimono draped around her seemed to climb back up those small shoulders.
1. Chapter 1

They crossed eyes with one another nearly every morning. Her sharp green intersecting with his light lavender, pupil barren orbs surrounded with so many handsome lashes.

Whenever they locked stares, only for a few fleeting moments, the woman would take her overly long silken sleeves and fold them up together. So the pattern would overlap. Sometimes it was a pale yellow kimono or a happy spring green furisode with beautiful blossoms written all over it.

This woman, whoever she happened to be, sucked in attention like a hurricane. It was rumored that she was Orochimaru's daughter, who had returned after her father's death at the hands of Sasuke Uchiha. No one really knew if that was actually true, but looking at her pale, white skin, hard snake eyes, and cascade of ink black hair, it wasn't difficult to believe.

And there was a scar, running all the way down the left side of her face. Like a blemish.

Whenever they saw one another, the two would give fast little nods, as though they were acquainted, even though two words had not yet been exchanged between them.

That woman, in her outrageous attire, went her way, and Neji Hyūga went his, with slight and friendly glances to one another, subtle like the sugar packets at the edge of a table.


	2. Chapter 2

Neji was assigned to the edge of the village to check on a woman who had not shown up for work. The entire reason he had been asked to take care of this was due to the nature of this particular lady. She had been known for her rage and violence and maybe even high risk of depression. The Hyūga would make sure she was alright, even if that entailed getting a sharp object thrown right at his neck.

Her home was a small and pretty place, like a dream land in a Japanese fantasy. Everything about it seemed to be somewhat old fashioned. Even the door, which was plain and under most circumstances ordinary, had a certain age to it. Like the white hairs on an old man's face.

And just as he began to admire the flower garden, the door swung open.

Either of them was met with something of a shock.

It was her. The milk white woman with the scar etched onto her face. The way lightning strikes down from the sky. Her green eyes took him, while the expensive silken kimono draped around her seemed to climb back up those small shoulders.

"What are you doing on my porch?"

"I was sent to make sure everything was alight here. Your coworkers are worried about you."

"They needed a Jonin to do that?" The lady, with her long, light orange painted nails, reached into her sleeve and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. Then she sighed. "Don't tell me why they sent you. I already know. I'm on that special list of people that need to be kept an eye on. You're running late to work and they think you've slit your wrists." She inhaled the smoke as those ashes fell right between her toes with matching nail polish, onto the disingenuous welcome mat.

"Well…"

The smoke blew out of her mouth, into the air. "Tell them I'm fine."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy. I need your signature."

Signature?" Puff.

"Yes. Signature." A folded up piece of neat paper was removed from the man's pocket. There was a massive amount of text sprawled all over its flesh. Like a tattoo of an epic poem. Then, at the bottom, was the woman's name and a line where _she_ would write it.

明日

"I won't sign it."

The Hyūga felt a quick shock. His eyebrows raised up, and those light lavender eyes filled up with a fast scrutiny. "Why won't you sign it? Just write your name and I'll get off your porch."

"If I sign that, it's incrimination. I was going to the alibi that I felt sick this morning. Then they can't accuse me of being late due to irresponsibility. And you'll help me. I'm going to stay here fifteen more minutes and dress myself and you'll tell them I was finally getting over my headache. In return, you have my permission to sit in my rocking chair outside."

"If you're going to go through all this trouble, why not just pretend to be sick all day?"

"I have things to do."

For a moment, Neji just surveyed that tiny, snake-eyed thing. And she surveyed him right back. For a second and for a second only, her lips coiled up into something demure and coy. Then she went back inside her home, leaving the door open so Neji could follow.

Well, what option did he really have?

The inside of this house of hers was dainty. There were paintings hung about the walls, and furniture that looked far too new for a twenty something year old that was probably late to work too frequently. But the entirety of it was decorated well and carried the scent of perfume and cigarettes about the walls.

The Hyūga stopped short of following the woman into the bathroom.

"Go get something from the kitchen if you want." Her voice sounded preoccupied. "Twenty minutes!"

"If I lie for you, will you please sign this document?"

"Sure. Whatever you want."

Neji found a spot at her kitchen table.

And he stuck his chin into the open palm of his hand.

From the kitchen was a fantastic view of the entire village, because this strange woman lived on a slight hill that overlooked all of Konoha. There was the foliage, then the tall buildings that rose up from the ground like giants with their arms outstretched. Then there was the sun, which beat down, because it was practically summer, and every last one of those leaves seemed even greener than usual.

Twenty five minutes later, she came back out, dressed in a heavy kimono with her mess of raven hair held together by a mixture of bobby pins, ties, and a single kanzashi to blossom just as her bun began.

Now another roll of tobacco began in her mouth, the tip only beginning to glow a handsome red and ash.

"Miss, will you please sign this form?"

That slender hand took the page, and just to be a smart ass, wrote her name in hiragana instead of kanji. She made huge messy strokes, bombastic like a baby's writing and even more obnoxious because it was actually intentional.

あ。し。た。

Ashita.

"There." Her bright red lipstick left a kiss around the cigarette as she pulled it out of her mouth. Neji took the document from her before an ember fell onto it and caught the damn thing on fire. "We can go to work now. You'll escort me there, won't you?"

"I'm going in that direction anyway."

A nod and nothing more. In a delirium, they were leaving the house together, walking side by side this time, instead of running into one another going opposite directions.

They made quite a bit of progress before either spoke.

"Aren't you going to ask me?"

"Ask you what?"

"If the rumors are true."

Silence.

"Everyone's curious."

"Of course. But I hardly know you. It's rude."

"That hasn't stopped anyone before."

"People have no manners."

"No. I suppose they don't."

Their feet scooted along in the dirt, while the light beat down like a rage.

"I am curious, though. Why did you tell me outright that you're going to lie about being sick?"

"You wouldn't have believed me anyway."

Neji nearly laughed. "Well, you're right about that." They continued on forward, eyes between the healthy green trees and one another. "What do you do at the hospital?"

Ashita seemed to perk up some. "I handle the blood samples. Test for disease, abnormalities. It's the sort of job some people might find tedious, but it's the reason I don't pretend to be sick all day." Those heavy green eyes, that might intimidate just about everyone else, shot him with a stare. "What's it like being a ninja around here?"

"It's not bad."

"Even when you have mission like this?"

"Of course. I'm thankful for these sorts of assignments. Every once in a while, it's good to take a walk to the edge of the village just to get a signature. Usually, it's easier than the things they have me do."

"I suppose so. I never really had easy missions."

And that was all the woman said. Neji merely listened and didn't bother pressing any further. To do so would be like moving the table cloth out from under an entire six course meal. There was no graceful way to do it. So instead of spilling soup and sauce and roasted meat all over the floor, Neji left the entire table alone.

Though, she had to be a ninja.

How else would that scar be on her face?

She was too muscular anyway, to have done blood tests and blood tests alone, all her life.

He stopped himself from looking too long.

And soon enough, the two were at the hospital, the head nurse standing outside, like a worried mother waiting for her wayward twelve year-old to come back.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I was feeling horrible this morning, but it cleared up." Ashita said it without practically any energy. Like she didn't care, if that woman believed her or not. In fact, Neji was certain that green eyed thing didn't think anyone would.

Then, Ashita turned to him, her all too expensive kimono whirling around her, the way it would during a dramatic dance. "I'll see you around. Take it easy."

The words were too heavy.

"Take care, Miss."


	3. Chapter 3

So they became friends.

It began when the two "ran into" one another more often. Neji had the faintest idea that Ashita was tracking him, but was good enough not to leave any proof. Anyone could tell she was dangerous. One look and you got the feeling she could kick your ass.

Despite that, her green eyes burned a hole into Neji's brain. Slowly, she seeped into his thoughts, little by little. Like hypnosis. Whenever the man started to day dream, she would snake her way in, brining their most recent conversation, that intense glare and the slow poison.

She was pretty, with a rounded face and long, silken black hair. Her stare pierced from her impossibly pale flesh, and so did her fat red mouth. She dressed well. Ornaments were frequently pinned against her scalp, and always, a lovely robe wrapped around her skinny figure.

So when that tiny woman invited him to dinner, there was only one answer.

After that, Neji found himself at her house, eating whatever she prepared and sitting on her back porch, while a fresh cigarette burned between her lips.

And they would talk.

About their days. About politics. About anything that came to mind. Because they were both intelligent. Nothing was ever forced; the Hyūga never turned the conversation to her past, or her alleged father, or even the scar slashed onto her face. And she appreciated it, because that was all anyone ever talked about in regards to her.

Neji started coming by the hospital on his way home. It was slightly out of the way, but something subconscious and needy drove him. To have a reason to go in, he put flowers into his hand and gave them to the woman at the front desk, explaining they were for Ashita.

By the fifth time, whoever was standing there stopped looking surprised. The shock just washed into perplexity. Their eyes wanted to ask, 'How could anyone like her?'

But Neji couldn't find it in him to care.

It got to the point that Neji would have her written all over his face. And everyone noticed, because it was odd for him to space out so heavily. Questions frequently had to be asked twice. His name was called twice. The utterance "huh" became a major part his vocabulary.

This chick, whoever the hell she was, had smashed him plain on the face with a brick. And it turned into a wrecking ball once she started greeting him with little kisses. It was a brand that smelled like perfume and cigarettes and burned the way a white hot explosion would.

But he loved it.

And she loved making his pale skin scarlet, whenever her mouth happened to touch. When her hands found places around his hips and her smooch would get him, on the jaw line. Just above the neck and below the cheek.

Ashita just adored the look on his face.

It killed her every time.

So they grew together. Like two trees with their roots interlocking. How their hands would come together, and their fingers would twine.


	4. Chapter 4

There was Neji again, sitting comfortably on her porch while either of them dove into the village lights. The life and tenacity of the place was too strong to be extinguished, even during the night. Voices echoed while the crickets chirped in the extensive backyard grass.

Konoha was crashing into summer. Pretty soon there would be noisy cicadas to keep everyone up all night.

"Neji."

Ashita rose up her voice like there was something heavy on her mind. And she got every bit of his attention.

"Are you ever going to ask me, about- where I came from and well…" Every part of her determination couldn't even find words. So those tough gems shoved themselves into the old wood that made up the porch. "I don't really know what the hell I'm trying to say. I guess I'm just curious if you're curious. I feel like you should be, but I'm grateful that you're not. If you're not." Then Ashita looked up to him, pleading for some kind of help. Asking him to say literally anything.

"Well, I am curious, but I figured if you wanted me to know, you would tell me. Until then, it's none of my business." Neji leaned back a bit, making the old wood creak beneath his weight. "Does it really matter anyway? You're here now, and you're not harming anyone. But people don't look at things so objectively. They seldom see anyone for their own person. There are always expectations. I've felt it myself."

They were looking right at one another now, sitting just a few inches apart. "I guess what I'm trying to say is you don't have to worry about me. Because it's not really about what your fate is. It all depends on what you decide to do about it."

Neji then gave Ashita a grin, which only made her beat red face even worse. Whenever that small woman blushed, her whole complexion washed crimson, like an entire can of paint spilled over her.

"Well, you should know that they're true- the rumors. And…" That was it.

And Neji kissed her right on the mouth.

That moment was a crack in the tension between them, what tension there was. It shattered like glass dropping from a ten story building into hard concrete. And they tugged each other close, with hearts flaring up into infernos. Because it seemed like either of them had wanted this for so long, to smash their lips together violently.

There was touch, during his entire train wreck of passion. Ashita snuck her palm onto Neji's neck, just under that veil of dark brown hair. And Neji had her shoulder, beneath the silken kimono fold, right above her collarbone.

For a moment, it stopped. The Hyūga fell back with Ashita landing on top of him, her face pressing right into the crease of his neck.

The woman chewed little kisses into his flesh.

"Is it terrible that I want you?"

"No." There was a long smooch there that was half of a love bite. "I want you too." Her open palm snuck into his chest. "I'd like to tear every bit of your clothing off right now."

You could almost hear him gulp.

"I think we should go inside."

Ashita was already working on the claps to that plain white, long sleeve top that kept his body away from her. It was clear she wouldn't listen to another word Neji said. There was too much determination, a whole abundance of it, to bruise every last part of him.

So he scooped her up and carried her inside, and it was easy because the woman weighed practically nothing. Ashita was thrown over one of those broad shoulders, with her legs held by a strong arm. She laughed a bit, attempting to reach down and squeeze his behind, even though her arms were just a bit too short.

Somehow, Neji found the bedroom, despite that tiny snake wrapping all the way around him. His shirt had been torn from him pants and tangled up, and those long, happy orange nails drew trails of fire against the bare pieces of his fair skin. It turned his mind to a burning flash of blank. Like she always did, but ten times worse.

Neji set her against the unmade bed in the center of her wild and disorganized room. There were piles of papers the size of mountains drowning the desk and books scattered about the floor. But before he could focus too long on any of it, lips were crushing together and subconscious hands were ripping clothing away, so they could have one another.

There was a sweet pain of impatience lingering in either of their veins. It made their faces darken. It made their mouths hungry and passionate and desperate. It caused bruises on either side.

But it all stopped for a moment, when Ashita's kimono was finally on the floor and Neji could see the collection of scars along her back. They were long and deep and ugly, like thick fractures drawn into the earth. The sight of it injected horror straight into his eyes.

Those were not battle scars.

They couldn't be.

"Neji." A touch, just beneath his ear. She begged him not to ask. "Don't stop, okay?"

A pause. Then, "Okay."

The realization came, that hardly anyone got to be in her messy room. That hardly anyone got to look at the scars etched across her beautiful, soft back. That hardly anyone was even allowed to be so comfortable with her. For some reason, Neji was special. He didn't really know why. But it was obvious that he was.

So for a second, that all too serious Hyūga let himself feel lucky.

And then Ashita kissed sweetly his thighs and all coherent thought was ignited to explosion. It glowed bright white just before popping.

The rest was just photographs of something that happened in a series of minutes but felt like hours. They pressed against one another in all different ways. Smashing together; backs arched, hair skewed. The world was in disarray before it was over and the pair stuck together on that pile of ruined sheets, now even more fucked up and twisted.

Neji and Ashita kissed again, just before the lethargy drugged them. And those tired, unfocused eyes met somewhere in between their faces, while palms traced different parts of silhouettes.


	5. Chapter 5

You could see them together pretty frequently with their eyes interlocked and pink making up a decent portion of their faces. It was sort of odd to see either one of them singular. Like rice without chopsticks, or a kimono without an obi. Sure. All three of those pairs were made up of things that could and did exist all by themselves, but it wasn't any less weird.

Like anything that had to do with Ashita, the rumors started coming up.

What? Oh, that Kung Fu killer snake bitch? _What was her name?_ Kinō or something? I don't believe for a minute she's going out with Neji Hyūga.

I heard she was a ward of the state. He's probably just there to watch over her or something, to make sure she's feeding her six cats and she hasn't slit her wrists yet. You've seen that awful scar on her face, haven't you? It was probably a self inflicted cut for attention.

_Her?_ Doesn't she live at the very edge of the village? So she can watch the entire thing like an old woman staring into a snow globe? I doubt anyone like Neji Hyūga would be around her willingly. Maybe she even put him under a spell.

I mean, _think about it_. He could have anyone he wants, and he chose _her? _

But all the evidence was there, plain and forward. You could find them at the park together, in the shops after work, walking to Ashita's home from the hospital. Shyly, they would kiss one another's cheeks and darken one another's skin. As if they didn't want anyone to know. As thought their love was strictly something special and couldn't be displayed for anyone's horrible, prying eyes.

But all you had to do was look long enough.

Some even made up rumors about what they did once at Ashita's home. Like she'd force him to bathe her like a slave and wash her hair and feet. And if you looked into her bedroom window, you could find them practically naked, Neji brushing that ugly mess of black tangle with the most expensive of brushes.

That was only half true.

The two bathed together and would sit on her mattress. And yes, Neji would brush her hair. Because any man with a half a brain and a pair of eyes would find it beautiful. Because as soon as he was finished, she messaged his back and kissed the nape of his neck and made dinner if she hadn't already.

There was new bullshit every day, but their happiness didn't cater to society's fickle approval. The stares came like a hailstorm, and they were surrounded by three feet of iron on all sides.

And eventually, the gossip seeped into the walls of the Hyūga compound, and Neji found himself answering to Hiashi about all the things he had heard.

"So…" These sorts of conversations between them always began awkwardly. Sort of like a bird with a broken leg. "I've heard rumors you have yourself a girlfriend. Is that true, Neji?"

"Yes, Sir. I suppose it is."

Uncle raised up a stern eyebrow, with that light lavender stare peaking full of interest. "Why haven't you brought her by, or even mentioned her? We're all curious."

"I'm not really sure."

"Well, why don't you bring her by for dinner next week? It's important I meet her."

And no one argued with that.

The next day was a haze. And it brought Neji all the way to her house, until his belly was full of soba and he was poised so stiffly on her bed. She coiled around him, kneading out the kinks in his back and leaving bruises all over his pretty pale neck.

Her lips were even fatter and softer than normal.

"What's the matter with you?" Naked legs poked out of her kimono and wrapped around his waist. "You're so tense."

Then she bit his earlobe.

"My Uncle wants to meet you. For dinner."

Ashita went stiff like a board, straight and narrow. A lightning rod that just got stuck, all the way from the sky.

"No."

"No?"

"I've never met anyone's family before."

Neji didn't say anything. He just caught her right leg and stroked it with an open palm.

"Are they-" Choke. "Why? Are they going to see how _good_ I am? Tell me to stop coming near you?" A cheek, angry and hot like a brand, sat on his back. "Don't tell me they've chosen someone else for you-" her voice was small and it spat.

"If that was the case, they'd simply tell me to never come here again." He pinched her calf, lovingly. Until her skin went a little pink and she flinched. "They do probably want to see how well we go together…What sort of fit you make." His fingers drew a line from her knee to her ankle. "I think my clan is getting a little more lenient."

The woman relaxed a bit, beneath those careful hands.

"It's probably more than obvious that I'm not just here for a free meal and to touch a pretty girl's leg. To more people than myself anyway."

You already seem like my wife.

But Neji couldn't say that.

"This is simply the next step. It probably should have come sooner."

I just don't want to share you with anyone.

But he couldn't say that either.

"What do I say?" Those thin, shapely arms wrapped around his chest. "No one likes me except you."

"Lee would probably like you. And so would Guy, but you have to meet them too." He pulled her arms and legs free, just to turn around and smash her into the mattress. Because Ashita was tiny and Neji outweighed her by at least fifty pounds. Then he soaked her in kisses. On her forehead and cheeks and lips. One even on her eyelid. "I think most people would like you if they gave you a chance."

_Smooch. _

"So look at this as an opportunity to get a whole group of people to like you."

The woman didn't really say anything. Her brow crinkled and those lucid green eyes lit up, only by a little more. She touched his shoulders. "Okay, Neji." But that was it.

Something about her was terribly uncomfortable. Probably because Ashita would be judged by someone who might want her far away from that precious Hyūga; on top of the judgment she received on a daily basis from the dagger sharp stare of just about everyone else. But Neji gave her something to look forward to.

It made her heart pound, when those pretty white eyes glanced at her out of their corners. Or across the table when they had dinner together. There was so much more admiration there than anyone else threw to her.

And Neji knew it. Because he could read every part of Ashita's face like a simple poem.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine."

"Alright."


	6. Chapter 6

Neji came with a bouquet of roses that was probably the size of a rose bush itself. And Ashita answered the door in a perfume scented anxiety. She looked lovely, in that happy spring green kimono with a fancy kanzashi stuck in her hair.

And there was the cigarette, poking out from between her lips.

Today her nails were sea shell pink and her hands seemed less graceful than normal.

Neji caught her on the cheek with a kiss. Then she took the flowers and brought them inside after getting him back.

A glance to her ankles and she wore her finest shoes.

"You didn't have to bring me flowers, Neji." Ashita stopped a moment to find an adequate vase for them, while he followed her patiently around the kitchen.

"Well…"

No one else would have been able to tell but Ashita was nervous. There was a crack in the ever present intimidation. Her laser beam stare grew soft. And at some point, it almost seemed like she tried to hide the scar away on her face. Tuck it into her silks so no one could see.

"I like to bring you flowers."

She finished her cigarette and pulled out a pack of mints from her sleeve. Three popped into her mouth.

"Will you be ready to go soon?"

"Yes. Five minutes."

So Neji sat in her kitchen again, while the shifting and clonking of numerous bottles echoed from the bathroom. With the noise came Ashita's tension. It was like static spitting out from a radio.

But seven minutes later, there she was, hooking herself onto her potential boy friend's arm, while they walked back down the hill to the Hyūga compound. Neji kept pressing little kisses onto her cheeks, specifically the right one. Because it was stupid to tell her not to worry. He could feel it too and nothing would change her mind. So each touch served like a small secret. Like tiny 'I love you's kneaded into her ivory flesh and her bright rouge.

Neji would kiss Ashita better. And she never asked him to stop.

They separated a little bit, when they came to that small palace stuffed full of the Hyūga Clan. And the two went inside, to collect stares from just about everyone who passed by, heading towards the dining room. There was some affirmation in every pair of white eyes that found them together. That the suspiciously pale, scarred up snake woman was indeed coiled around Neji's fingers. That she had indeed poisoned his mind and had indeed made him entirely mad.

She was introduced to everyone who happened to pass by, as though the woman wasn't some weighty object that attracted copious amounts of attention. As if she was just a normal girl, not a diamond crusted rarity or a stinking pile of serpent garbage. Either way, every bit of attention smacked her across the already ruined cheek, causing it to glow even redder.

They found the dinner table and everyone else found them. The conversation stopped, and each of the Hyūgas, all dressed in white and tan with a few colors in between, shot their attention to the bright green grass stain Neji had carried in on his shirt. It didn't help that she stuck out like a broken finger in the first place. But Ashita wore emerald irises instead of ivory and skin even paler than the palest clansmen. She was bright, flashing red in an ocean of blue.

Neji helped the woman into her seat.

She was stiff as rigor mortis.

Then the meal started shortly after, and a mile away at the head of the table, sat Neji's uncle. Anyone would know it just by a glance. He flashed his gaze over to the two a couple of times before asking them to come to his side of the table.

If the cast system wasn't obvious before, it was now. As Ashita and Neji moved closer to the very crown of the table, the clothing became nicer. The faces a little less exhausted. A little less grave. The girls a little more sheltered and positioned like trinkets instead of actual people.

There was Hinata. Neji had mentioned her before.

Hiashi and Ashita had a brief staring contest before the introduction.

"Hello, Sir." A slight bow. "My name is Ashita. Thank you for inviting me to your home." None of it was overly sweet. That was a part of the woman only Neji got to have, and even that came in rations.

"So you're the woman who Neji has been spending so much time around. It's nice to meet you. My name is Hiashi."

Exchanged bows and the two of them spoke for a moment with Neji getting a few words in between. All this occurred while that line of Hyūgas, going from most important to least, began moving downwards two spots, to accommodate the two standing.

If Ashita was nervous anymore, it wasn't apparent. She spoke with her hands and leaned in to listen and behaved like any decent dinner guest. There was still her distance, the side of her that got locked away seven leagues into her chest. There was a box of little treasures in there and Neji held the key.

No. This woman wasn't shy or demure. She would probably take first place in a staring contest championship against everyone at this table. In fact, this seemed to be the title match right now. Every time one of the Hyūgas decided to watch in scrutiny, Ashita would take those badass mother-fucking snake eyes and ram the opposing stare into the table top, or the owner's lap, or the floor.

Even in an entire room full of x-ray vision, no one could break her poker face.

It was hard to say who was wining.

At one point, the conversation stopped and she turned to Neji, to sneak a couple of words right into his ear.

"Out of every single Hyūga, I got the best one."

Then it was all dissolved in soup, like nobody said anything, but she had been sloppy and left pink all over his face. Neon foot prints at a crime scene.

Once again, everyone was staring holes into their skin.

About half an hour later, dinner was over and everyone headed back to their rooms. Ashita and Uncle Hiashi said their good-byes, and the pair left through the court yard, night time having fallen all over Konoha. Bits of sunset hung over the darkening sky, the way a dying creature clings to the last couple breaths of life.

Neither really said anything. Until they were half way towards Ashita's house and the quiet thought was steaming from either of their ears.

"Why did all of them stare at me that way?"

Neji took the question with silence. It was really more rhetorical than anything else.

"Just once, I wish that old bastard's reputation would stop chasing me around."

Pause. "I think they were staring because you looked so beautiful."

Ashita met his glance while she boiled pink. Not just with blush, but from frustration and the perpetual butterflies Neji stuffed down her throat. There was so much, puncturing the walls of her throat that she wanted to say. But all of it was awkward and mangled into a different language entirely. Endearing Japanese to gibberish swallowed in a huge gulp along with the monarchs filling up her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Ashita."

"I am too, Neji."

That night, the woman left her sweet and loyal Hyūga at the door. Her lipstick blotted his cheek and she went inside, to probably punch herself in the throat while looking blankly into the mirror.


	7. Chapter 7

There was a rumor that Ashita might have been in Akatsuki. Uncle Hiashi brought it up after Neji escorted her home.

Ashita's soft palm at the base of his neck brought Neji's attention back to her room. Back to the soft lighting of the desk lamp and really, nothing else. Looking around her room briefly, there were no pictures of friends. No happy childhood drawings or anything outside of papers and books and a couple of decorations that lined the walls.

Her fingers traced the marking against his brow. That horrid green stain the Hyūga clan had burned into his flesh. Just like someone had burned her with a scar along the side of her lovely face.

It was so unfair.

"I think you're the best man I've ever been with." Ashita's voice was low and sweet, a little like honey but richer. The pads of her fingers and the ends of her happy red nails smoothed over the outline of his face. "Maybe it's because you understand. Or maybe it's because you're just good. I don't know. But every time I look at you, I find something else to like. Like a diamond of a million different colors with a million different faces."

A kiss at the side of his mouth. Not quite on the lips, but close.

"I wish you could stay here forever, like a trinket of mine. But if I never got to miss you, then moments like this wouldn't be half as sweet."

Her naked, little chest pushed in a little closer. Both of them worse a collection of bruises they had inflicted upon on another. They were blue and purple and red. Then she stuck those sore and happy lips to his neck, which up until this point, she had been careful not to mark, since everyone in the world would get to see.

"I love your eyes. And you always smell so nice."

He could feel the soft brush of her eyelashes against his jaw.

"Just you being here makes me happy. I hope I can keep you."

Between the cycling thoughts and all her words, Neji was a boy lost in a pretty, neon colored forest. With new creatures and an entire well of emotions too complex to understand. Ashita made his face burn and his blood hot. Now Neji was all pink and looking right at her.

It was the same expression that Hinata wore when everything was too much. The elder Hyūga had seen it a thousand times, but could never understand until this moment; right here.

His face was just flesh with an inferno stuck behind it.

"I think we should take pictures together." His hands were wrapped around the welds in her back. They were so rough. "I want to fold you up and keep you in my pocket."

"Do you?" Ashita traced the bruises she had left all around his collarbone. "Okay."

Then Neji was kissing her over again, her small body folded up underneath his. In his euphoria, everything else disappeared into a cloud of dark grey smoke. The nagging thoughts of his uncle popped, with his sanity and sobriety. Ashita's impossibly soft skin required unreasonable amounts of his attention and Neji didn't have any choice but to give in.


	8. Chapter 8

Neji showed up with a collection of sunflowers. With little purple buds along with marigolds and they were all so pretty together. Like a painting where all the colors bounced off of one another, and the pigments were bloody and bright.

But the front desk was a train wreck when Neji arrived. There was a woman sitting on the floor with two others around her, both her eyes pounded into black holes and her nose a pop of oxidized red. She looked barely conscious, and no one seemed to want to move her, as if doing so would make her probable concussion worse. Although, they were bandaging her broken nose and enticing her to drink a little water.

"Your girlfriend left."

The voice drew Neji's attention to the door.

"She probably ran back home."

Absolutely everyone was staring at him. With eyes halfway soaked in bile.

"Thank you."

And Neji left.

It wasn't hard to find her. It almost seemed like she wanted someone to, with long steaks from her handsome shoes in the dirt, and her scent fleeting. The trail led back to her home, about one hundred steps from the front door.

Where no one could see them.

Ashita was sobbing into her sleeves, trudging along as though one of legs were broken. The sound was terrible. It was wrought with misery and approached choking, like the sorrow had her by the neck and shook. She was already turning red.

"Ashita!"

Those legs didn't stop. But Neji was much more sober than the woman, so he caught up quickly and stuffed her into his arms. Then they stopped. And that distraught thing cried and cried, no longer filling those long, silken covers with her tears, but the shirt Neji happened to be wearing.

But that was alright.

He stroked through her disheveled hair.

"What happened?"

There wasn't an answer. Looking at her, you had to know there wouldn't be one. Between the practically incoherent, broken melancholy that littered and ruined her face and the urge to stop breathing that rang through her bones, basic speech was hardly possible. Explanations were a twisted and weighty thing, with difficulty like a labyrinth. The woman was a mess.

So Neji scooped her up, flowers, woman, and Kimono, and carried her to the front door, the tangled up puzzle she was.

The pair arrived in the kitchen when Neji sat Ashita on the table and she finally began to calm. The blossoms, now slightly bent and bruised took a place next to the last bouquet he had brought her, just leaned up against the vase.

Neji handed her a napkin; Ashita wiped her face.

There was this enormous, pained sigh, before the woman began to speak. It hung out of her throat, like part of it was still caught inside her stomach. But then there was a swallow.

"I'm sorry." Gasp. "That fucking bitch-"

Ashita had to find more composure; she practically tore it from her heart. "She said-" Breath. "She said I shouldn't work with the blood samples because I would-"

It was so hard to get out. This information the size of an eight ball. But that loyal Hyūga waited patiently, white eyes bleeding his sympathy. Ashita looked like a cat that fell into a pool. Make up ran at the sides of her colorful eyes and every part of her went sideways.

"I would probably use them for human experimentation."

It was even painful to hear.

Ashita took a desperate grasp at oxygen.

"She even said it like I couldn't hear her- that little whore was standing steps in front of me- talking to the head nurse like I'm some kind of monster that can't understand human speech-"

Those rich silken sleeves took he tears away.

"I already know all the horrible shit people say about me behind my back, but-"

Ashita was again close to weeping.

"I almost killed her. I had her on the ground with one hand around her neck and the other pounding a mud hole into her face. And I was doing so fucking well! It was the whole reason I became a nurse in the first place, so I'd stop doing shit like that! But I lost my mind-I just-I can't do it some days! These people- these horrible people want to spit in my face for something I never even got to decide! What have I done to them?! I'd give them my goddamn blood if they'd just _stop_-"

Her voice shook, and she stared Neji plain in the face with all the sincerity and desperation she had. "But it's never enough. They'd strip me down to the marrow and call me a bitch! They'd say I should have given more-!"

Those eyes filled up and spilled over. Words quit like tires in ocean deep mud. Sometimes, even breathing was a struggle. It felt like there was a foot, strapping her chest to the dirt.

But those hackneyed, busted legs found a way forward.

"The worst part is I can't even say I'm any better than her. I couldn't let it go- this awful, violent part of me just washed my brain out and I got my consciousness back when her blood was all over the floor and six different people were pulling me away-"

Ashita's face sank into her palms, a wicked bruise stretching across her right set of knuckles.

And Neji stood there, ignorant of what to say. While his darling love shattered in front of him. He watched the hope flee away; come up like a cloud and die in dissipation, like a final puff of cigarette smoke before the butt goes into the ash tray, useless and dead like paralyzed arms. He felt like crying for her. Because he loved her dearly and had heard the things they said himself.

It made him fucking sick, the ignorance that got to pass as judgment. The untrue rumors and the mean, cancerous things they would say about someone so precious to him.

Neji was blanking out, from the fifteen directions the distress took him. But through it all, he pushed himself forward and coated that poor woman in the sugar sweet affection spilling straight from his heart.

His lips touched her face and eyelids and whatever other parts they could have.

And it brought her pain down, like an ice bag to a swollen knee, until Ashita stopped crying and spoke.

"That's all I have to say."

And Neji said, "Well, what do you want to do?"

And Ashita said back, "I just want to lie down."

"Can I lie down with you?"

"Sure."

So they once again went to Ashita's room, to sink into the sheets while that little snake woman was subdued by sleep. Those miserable eyes stayed open a few seconds, before closing in their harsh red exhaustion. Neji was wrapped around her. The good boyfriend he was. With her limbs limp against him and her fucked up robes spilled out carefully beneath his weight. So it wasn't uncomfortable. So he didn't smash her slender arm underneath his ribcage.

Then that sweet Hyūga went to sleep too.


	9. Chapter 9

And he woke up a whole mess of kisses woven into his neck.

It was hours later, when the sun had set and the peach lavender found a way in through the window. The sky burned a special kind of crimson; it stretched out, like someone smudged it and now part of that deep red formed lazy clouds; took over the light blue and turned it purple.

Ashita smelled clean, and was a little bit damp.

"I don't know why you stay with me, Neji. I think about it and I have to be more trouble than I'm even worth."

Her voice was half way to death, like someone cut open a slow drain on an artery. It was monotone and flat. All the emotion had fled, like yolk from a hallowed out, barren egg.

Neji looked her in the face, with brows folding up.

Some of that ink black hair was swept behind her ear.

"Ashita, I don't know exactly how you feel. Only a real jackass would say that. But I think I can relate."

She was listening, with her cheek flattened onto the pillow and her weighty attention pointed right at the man.

"I've had people make assumptions about me. I've even felt the discrimination from the very inside of my clan. And for the longest time, I hated them. I hated my fate and my family and the fact that someone talented would be resigned to mediocrity, just because of blood. But then this crazy idiot beat the hell out of me and showed me that it didn't have to be that way. If a person like that, with enough hard work could defeat someone who had natural talent, just imagine what I could do."

Quiet, while the soft ticking of Ashita's alarm clock whispered. The room became just a little bit darker, as the sun sat beneath those high mountains.

Neji's palm touched her face. The scar, which was colored pink.

"I'm happier that I made the choice to be someone else. I let go of my hatred, and things are better. Nothing's perfect. But I can say I love my family, and life is good now that we all, for the most part, get along."

A quick touch in between her thin brows.

"I'm not saying it's easy. I had to prove myself, even more than before. Not just to them, but to me. It took becoming a better person than I ever thought I could be. I did things that just months before I would had never dreamed of doing. I used to be stubborn. But I'm a better man for it."

He traced half of her jaw line. To her chin.

"Don't give up. You'll kick yourself every day when you start regretting it. Especially since I know you can do it. And you know you can do it. You just have to show them that they need to give you a chance, even if they're certain they won't."

Ashita didn't really say anything. Not with words. Her gaze just sunk into his neck along with two or three more kisses. There was the exhaustion. The resolve that left her blood a couple of hours ago. But something came back in, in droplets. In little pieces.

"Thank you, Neji."

Lipstick blot.

"I think I'd like to have something to eat."


	10. Chapter 10

Neji went on a mission and Ashita was left at home, free of a job and burdened to a session of ordered therapy.

She took to staring out onto the village from her porch, thinking hard with conflict bubbling up inside her eyes. The place was so happy looking; it had so much prosperity, like any other huge village with tall buildings and a kind of twinkle to it. And for just a second there, Ashita earnestly hated it. The image was dishonest. Konoha looked like such a kind place, with friendly people of every walk of life. And maybe that was true for anyone else, without a reputation completely sullied by a sick man and a lack of social grace.

Sometimes it was hard to move forward.

The rocking chair creaked with the back and forth motion. And again when Ashita stood up and went back into her home.

She got a backpack together. Tooth brush, hair brush, kimono. Obi. Make up. Money. Cigarettes and her lighter.

You know; the essentials.

And she left her house and walked. Not really in any particular direction. Not really thinking it through. But her feet moved forward and her handsome, dark black sandals scuttled along until she was gone, with a dull sense of sadness insider her stomach and lonesomeness she hadn't really felt since meeting Neji Hyūga.

But sometimes, just for sobriety's sake, you need a break from your own personal Jesus. A minute to breathe and consider all the doubts and options that came with a quick slice of atheism.

It didn't even occur to her that she didn't leave a note. That she didn't let anyone know where she would go, or who that little woman would decide to be once she got there. All the rest was too heavy, and the pieces stacked together, to build a fortress to block out the sun.

A whole damn tower, made up of brick and mortar thick as stone.

And she smoked a cigarette.


	11. Chapter 11

Neji came back and they told him his girlfriend had skipped town. At least a couple of witnesses could verify they saw her skulking away through those enormous gates, tobacco and backpack intact.

He went back to her house, to see if it was bullshit. But the door was locked and there was no fumbling from the inside. The sound of her voice didn't rise up with a sweet, "Coming!" There wasn't the skidding of her feet against the floor. Neji even used those intense, magical eyes that could see through anything, and his woman was nowhere to be found.

So like any logical person, he took to tearing the village to shreds, and when Konoha couldn't yield the pretty outcast, Neji left to find a place that would.

It wasn't that hard. And from the long tracks in the dirt and spread out trail of cigarette butts, Ashita wasn't so difficult to find. Even if she had been; even if she were trying to make herself tough to locate, Neji would sill fucking get her. He would dig into the earth for miles, if that's where she was hiding.

But she wasn't hidden beneath layers of dirt. She sat in a sushi bar, drinking cola and smoking, just a town over form Konoha.

She was alone, which was sort of a relief in itself, with a mix of sadness and California roll distraction written all over her face. That changed to a fast and violent surprise when Neji sat across from her and greeted her with a disarming glare.

"I have been worried _sick_ about you for the last eight hours. _What do you think you're doing?_ Are you abandoning the village? And if you are, why didn't you tell me you were leaving? Do I mean so little to you that you'd just up and leave without saying two words to anyone, just so they can tell me where the _hell_ you disappeared to? I would never do anything like that and I expect the same in return. You'd have your foot up my ass if I just up and left, regardless of how upset I might be. "

There was more.

"Do you realize how irresponsible this is? What if something happened to you when you were here? I'd have to assume you were _dead! _The least you could have done is left a note-"

"Calm the fuck down, Neji. No one asked you to come looking for me-"

"It didn't occur to you that I might be done at any time and _might_ come back to see you? Look, I know you think you don't matter to anyone, but that's just a bunch of bullshit-"

"_What?_ What the hell are you talking about? I didn't realize you've seen _my_ life through _my_ eyes. So go ahead. Tell me about how everyone adores me and how your uncle _wasn't _staring spears into my neck every fucking time I turned to you. I'm _sure_ all the cruel, hateful shit everyone says about me is just a playful form of light jealousy and I'm secretly an icon."

Her voice was growing in edge and anger. She had been suppressing it –this other, darker edge to her. But behind those pretty green eyes was the desire to tear him apart. A kind of bloodlust set through her pores.

"It must be easy when you know everything."

Fangs.

And poison growing like spit in the back of her mouth.

"Don't you fucking treat me like I can't take a couple of days if I feel like it. Maybe I didn't want you knowing where I was. _Maybe I didn't want anyone knowing where I was._ _Maybe_ I just want to be left the _hell_ alone so I can clear my head for the next twenty-four hours! But apparently, I can't even have that. Because my own _goddamn boyfriend_ thinks I'm unstable and fragile like glass! You want me to prove myself? _Fine._ Then why don't we take this outside and I'll fucking prove myself?! Since you don't believe I can survive _all on my own!_"

The energy that surrounded her bore down on him like a ten ton weight.

Ashita glared, with her hand shaking, cigarette quivering between two fingers. The entire restaurant was staring, and the waitresses were too afraid to ask them to leave.

"Don't treat me like a child. You're lucky I love you or I might break your face."

Ashita left, slapping down some money on the table and promptly disappearing in violent smoke. The whole place was quiet. But everyone was looking at him now. And only him, with their eyes opened wide. It stuck for a second before they sunk back into their own conversations, like nothing happened.

And Neji felt like an asshole.

The reasonable, sweet Ashita he knew probably would have admitted he had a point. She probably would have apologized and made it clear she just wanted some space. She probably would have appreciated the fact that somebody loved and cared enough for her to dig her up from temporary obscurity.

But he decided to swing his dick around instead.

So Neji left the restaurant and walked back home, heartbroken like an egg yolk popped inside his chest. It was late when he returned, and every other Hyūga was in bed, rolled up beneath a blanket and covers and unconscious like he should have been.

Neji got into bed and stared at the ceiling, pitch dark and ongoing forever, until he finally went to sleep at 3:14 in the morning. And that beautiful, hateful woman haunted every corner of his dreams. Like a leech draining out his life blood.


	12. Chapter 12

Uncle Hiashi sat at the edge of Neji's bed after much speculation from the rest of the Hyūga clan. They hadn't seen him at breakfast and heartbreak practically came rolling out from beneath his door.

He was awake. Just miserable.

"Well, did she dump you?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong, Neji? It's hardly like you to lock yourself in your room like this."

The younger took a second to answer. Because everything felt so heavy all of a sudden and even breathing was crazy hard. "I did something stupid."Quick silence. "She wasn't here when I came back. So I looked for her and found her a village over. It turns out she just wanted some space and I overreacted. Now she's upset with me and I have no clue where she went."

Hiashi looked into his nephew's face. There was much distress there, like Ashita would never ever forgive him ever and the only remedy to this whole thing was studying the interior of his room.

"I guess you really like her."

There wasn't a reply at first. "She said that if she didn't love me, she would break my face."

Hiashi actually laughed. "Well, since your face isn't broken, she must be serious." Then the elder leaned forward some. "She'll probably forgive you."

Pause. "Uncle, will you give her another chance?"

"Another?"

Neji didn't say anymore. His brows crinkled and then Hiashi's brows crinkled. And they were looking at one another.

"I was hoping that you'd fall for someone a little less nefarious. That 'Ashita' of yours has quite the reputation. But if she was really so bad, you wouldn't like her. You've never had a hard time reading people."

Then Hiashi stood up. "Try not to be too upset. I'm sure it's not as awful as you think it is."

And that was that. Neji was left alone to his despair, broken and fragmented into pieces. But he only moped about an hour more before pulling himself from the sheets and going to dig up his girlfriend.

The Hyūga planted a polite knock on the door. And there was shuffle of her feet. And the smell of pricey perfume as she answered. And her eyes, so emotive and green like two glassy emeralds with a mess of lashes around them.

Her mouth crunched.

Either of them tried to speak first, but Neji let Ashita have it.

"Hey, I'm sorry about yesterday." Long black hair was brushed behind her ear. "I really-" Frustration, because there were too many words and she could only say one at a time. "Why don't you come inside? This is the wrong way to have this conversation."

"Alright."

Neji followed her in, and they took spots at her kitchen table, as they usually did. Once again, there came the at-home feeling, even if there was a huge and heavy conversation coming.

Ashita was looking right at him.

"I was actually coming to see you, if you'll even believe that. And well…I said some hurtful shit yesterday and the violent person I've been trying so hard not to be just…" Sleeved elbows on her table. Attention darted to the floor. "I guess when you're sensitive to everything, you lose your shit over the most benign, harmless things sometimes. I'm not going to lie; I feel like everyone walks on eggshells around me. I'm treated like I'm insane. And maybe I am. But no one wants to feel unstable; hardly functional. It hurts. And even though I've come a long way, my reputation still walks three feet in front of me."

A breath.

"I thought about it, and I know you were just worried about me. I disappeared. If you just up and left, I'd probably go looking for you too. And I'd wonder why you didn't leave me a note. But at the time, it felt like you were forced to watch over me. Because I can't watch over myself, allegedly. Even though I would have done the same to you. I might have been way more unreasonable about it too. And that's some shit I have to work on. I've never been any good at remaining calm. Or thinking logically when I'm that upset. But you're right. I have to prove to you, to myself, and to this entire Goddamn village that I'm better than that. And I shouldn't break anyone's face, whether or not I love them."

Ashita locked eyes with Neji, while the kitchen clock whispered in the background. Her fingers tore off parts of her lip. Little bits of flesh stuck between her thumbnail and her index finger. Her fingerprint was dyed red.

"I just want you to know I love you, Neji. You make life suck exponentially less, and I don't know what the fuck I would do with myself, if I lost you because I was too much of a bitch." The contact between their stares shattered as the woman looked at the table, her brows deflating into a frown. "I'm going to do what you said. I'm going to put in the energy it takes to change. As much as I can. So…You'll stay with me, won't you? Because you're the type of guy I want to marry one day, if that doesn't creep you out."

The look on her face was so genuine, it practically glowed. And there was a piece of determination there too, so not only was she genuine, but she was dead fucking serious and set on a future that sucked exponentially less. Maybe even by Neji Hyūga's side in a wedding kimono.

He leaned across the table to kiss her on the scar.

"I actually came here to ask you not to dump me. I felt bad because I should have been more reasonable too." Smooch, and Neji landed back into his chair. "You're much stronger than you let on, and I feel like there's a lot I still don't know about you, which bothers me. But I love the person you are, even if I'm curious. I hope you'll tell me about your past at some point, even if it's difficult to talk about."

"Okay." She said. "I trust you, and I'll try." Lips folded inward.

And for a split second, a look of concern and pain crossed her face. It wasn't meant for Neji to see. The expression was the sort of thing Ashita hid beneath her make-up. Beneath the Hyūga's distracting love and her own intoxication. And it left as soon as it came. A cockroach stuffed underneath a gorgeous rug.

But then she said:

"Can I kiss you now?"

And Neji went over to her side of the table. Because he didn't want to worry any longer.

Then the two went back to good again, leaving the house shortly after Ashita finished getting ready to stuff their faces full of sushi, with the future looking a little more bright and shiny. The optimism came back. You could see it inside Ashita's face. Within her heavy but uplifted eyes, coated inside a mutual affection that blossomed tall and golden like a sunflower.

Ashita kissed Neji's cheek.

And Neji kissed her right back, allowing everyone to stare as much as they liked.


	13. Epilogue

They were lying on his bed, looking at the new pictures on the wall, next to the old ones of Neji's father and mother and Hinata and Hiashi. The freshest portraits were at Ashita's house too, taped to the bathroom mirror and stuck onto the fridge.

She had met Lee and Guy. Tenten too. All three looked a bit surprised to finally meet her, because they were sure she wasn't real and half convinced the rumors were actually true. Lee clasped her in a bear hug and Guy shed a single manly tear for the sake of youthful love.

And Ashita kind of understood why she hadn't met his team sooner. But she still liked them anyway.

Then she met that crazy idiot Naruto, who was sort of an urban legend in his own right. Ashita told him about Sasuke Uchiha. And she told Naruto some of things Sasuke Uchiha had told her about him. It was probably about time they met.

Like anyone who became acquainted with Naruto Uzumaki, they became fast friends.

Ashita also spent more time with the Hyūga clan. She knew most of them by name and began weaving herself in, to the point that she'd come for visits even when Neji was gone. One day, she looked at Hiashi straight in the face and said, "Uncle, I love your nephew and I want your approval. It's really damn important to me. So tell me if there's anything I can do."

Then she stared at him. Because it was his turn to say something.

"Alright, Ashita. I'll let you know if there's anything you can do." But the truth was he kind of liked her already. The effort the woman put forth was apparent, from the small gifts she brought the family from time to time, to all the affection she pinned to Neji. He was fed well, and loved well, and in some ways the two already seemed married.

Uncle even trusted her enough to take a place on his nephew's bed.

Ashita leaned over and marked Neji with a lipstick blot. To watch his flesh turn pink.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Then he kissed her eyelids and Hinata came to the door, with a beautiful red kanzashi in her hair, to tell the two of them it was time for dinner.

And they took their places at the table, holding hands beneath the oak, and fitting happily into positions that were practically made for them. Even if they had to do some tailoring to make everything fit right.


	14. Author's Commentary

Well. I'd say putting author commentary at the end of one of my stories is taboo, but writing a Naruto fanfiction is sort of taboo in itself, so I figured I might as well explain. For starters, I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I've written, not this, but my Naruto series over about a thousand times. If you compare how many times the Ramayana has been told to how many times I've written this series of fanfictions, the numbers would probably come pretty close.

That's only half of a joke.

I don't by any means find this installment perfect; but before I get into all that I should probably clarify for parts to come. This section- Meisai, is not part of the original train wreck I've been trying to clean up for the last 6 years. I added it because it was something that I earnestly felt like writing, and really, I'm sort of sad that it's finished. In my opinion, Neji is one of the most complex characters the series has to offer. (Not discounting everyone else, of course.) And on that note, I apologize seriously if I messed up the Naruto cannon. It's been a ridiculous amount of time since I've actually watched the show, but I've found myself enjoying the spin-off anime "Rock Lee and his Ninja Pals" (the title in Japanese being too long and confusing for my stupid American brain), and this story was, in a way, inspired by that show. Of course, if you've ever seen the show, you're well aware of the insanely stupid humor. And if you've ever read any of my other fanfictions you're well aware of the insanely stupid seriousness in them, so it's hard to see where the two meet up. They really don't; but that's where this story came from.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into why _exactly_ this story is an imperfect vanity project. I think most of you can come up with your own assertions and ad homonym attacks. But even though it's not perfect, I think I portrayed some of the themes I was going for. I'm more proud of this work than some of the others sitting on my profile, so why not post it? Fun for the whole family.

You know. Except for all the sex.

For those of you who don't know, I've been going through something of a slump lately and have written quite a bit more than I've posted. But a lot of what I've written I've deemed unfit for reading, and that's part of the reason I've been so bad, and slow with new stories. But I think I have something good here; maybe not this story in itself, but for what's about to come. This is essentially part one of a four part series focusing on Ashita. (Yes. I am terribly aware that it's quite a silly name. Feel free to scream at the thirteen year old version of myself who totally thought she could speak Japanese.) So if you found yourself wondering about the unexplained parts of this story, your questions will hopefully be answered in the next three parts if you so decide to read them. Hopefully.

I won't say much more than that. But I will say this is actually, chronologically, the last part in the whole series. (So there are no awful-baby-daddy-original-characters to worry about. I think it's bad enough to have one running around, and I thank you all for getting this far.) Hopefully that leaves something for everyone to look forward to.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Your support is the only reason I keep going, and the only reason I want to smash my head into a cinder block because you've all turned me into a terrible perfectionist. But really, that's a pretty good thing in the long run, so thanks again.


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